Defries with that?
On 11th April 2005, someone on Casebook posted what was intended to be an exhaustive list of suspects for Jack the Ripper running to a little over 120 names. Scott Nelson added some more names three days later:
"Isaac Kozminski
Abraham Kosminski
butcher Morris Bosman's shop assistant
butcher Solomon De Leuw
Henry Nathan
Jacob Greenbaum"
He then made a further post the next day, 15 April 2005 (bold added):
"Oh, I forgot a couple of others under the category "A Jew dun it, and he's a Jew"
Hyam Hyams (very important, this guy)
someone very much like Dan Norder (even though Norder's probably not a Jew
Henry Defries (unsubstantiated)
David Levy (orange merchant of St James Place)"
This is the first appearance I can find of Nelson mentioning the "unsubstantiated" (whatever that means) Henry Defries who was then just one of 9 suspects additional to the 120 or so names originally mentioned, added by Nelson as an afterthought.
On JTR Forums on 30 December 2007, Nelson posted this (bold added):
"You know, I just don't understand why certain men around at the time who are really suspicious, like Henry DeFries, the sponge warehouseman at Gravel Lane, Spitalfields, aren't looked into more. And also not to mention Solomon De Costa, the provisional merchant on Little Alie Steet. These are just random examples of men who are much more likely to have been the killer than the ridiculous candidates poffered by the under-informed."
While Nelson did not bother to us why Henry Defries was "really suspicious", we can see that he, along with Solomon De Costa, was nothing more than a "random example" of the type of men, in Nelson's mind, more likely to be the killer than others who had been named.
On 18th September 2008 we had this from Nelson on Casebook:
"Well, why would you have to look any further than Henry DeFries, the 38 year-old sponge warehouseman on Gravel Lane?"
Perhaps a more apt question would be: why would you have to look at Henry Defries at all?
Defries was back to being relegated to one of a mere list of others in February 2010 when, in a JTR Forums thread entitled 'List of Plausible Suspects', Nelson posted (bold added):
"Jacob Cohen
Henry DeFries
Joseph Fleming
Solomon DeLeuw
Manuel DeCosta"
A few weeks later, on 25 April 2010, Nelson told us:
"I have written that the City suspect could have been Hyams, or Cohen or a host of other lunatics (like Henry DeFries) who were around at the time -- or it could be Kosminski (City Police and MET having same suspect)?"
So Defries was one of a "host of other lunatics" who just happened to be "around at the time". Nothing, apparently, to link him to the Ripper crimes.
By October 2011, however, Defries has been elevated by Nelson back to being the prime suspect who was probably Jack the Ripper. Hence, on 24 October 2011, he posted over two posts on Casebook in response to a Suspects poll (bold added):
"Where's Newland Francis Forrester Smith, James Gloster and Fountain Smith? ...and, of course, the probable Ripper, Henry DeFries."
Funny how he didn’t include "the probable Ripper" as his first name on the list. And why even bother with any other individuals if you've already identified the probable Ripper?
A couple of weeks later, 11th November 2011, Defries is top of the list as, in response to a question from Howard Brown, 'Who is your suspect?', he posted:
"Henry DeFries. Other people can look into this guy, if they are so inclined."
How kind of Nelson to identify a suspect for other people to look into without any reason being provided why they should do so.
During January 2012, in a Casebook discussion about a possible suspect, Jim McDermott, Nelson posted (bold added):
"Very well. But how does all that fit in with Henry DeFries, Kelly's likely killer?"
In May 2012 in a thread entitled 'Criteria for plausibility', Nelson chirped:
"...try Henry Defries. The case solution could be all your's (sic). Hey, who said that before?"
On 17th September 2012, there was a strange out of context post by Nelson in a thread about how much research was done online, where we find recorded without any comment or explanation:
"Henry DeFries, b. March 1850 Whitechapel
Henry DeFries, b. 1824 Stepney Green (father)
Hannah Harris, b. 1822 Whitechapel (mother)"
Oh well, at least we now have some biographical information about the man who likely murdered Mary Jane Kelly.
In August 2013, after a news story that a modern Sheffield police officer had solved the Ripper murders, Nelson told us:
"I'll bet he names the gasfitter, Henry DeFries of Middlesex Street."
The curious thing about this is that Defries was previously described by Nelson as a sponge warehouseman on Gravel Lane whereas he is now a gasfitter of Middlesex Street. The fact of him having been a sponge warehouseman is never mentioned again.
Then in October 2013, we finally had confirmation from Nelson of Jack the Ripper's identity:
"Henry DeFries was the Ripper."
He'd been playing with us all this time. He'd always known who Jack the Ripper was, and it was the sponge warehouseman/gas fitter from Gravel Lane/Middlesex Street, Henry Defries.
2014 was a big year for Nelson and Defries but it didn't start out all that promisingly. On 7 January 2014, Defries, who, a few months earlier, had been declared to be Jack the Ripper, was relegated to a list of two suspects by Nelson:
"Two names stand out. David Cohen and Henry DeFries...."
Not a problem though. We can ignore David Cohen because on 1 July 2014 on Casebook, Nelson said that Jack the Ripper was:
"Henry Defries. Gasfitter. Lived on Middlesex Street. History of family mental illness. A search of the Old Bailey court records shows a range of criminal behavior."
We finally have some information about the man. Well, a history of family mental illness doesn't sound very promising. Was DeFries himself mentally ill? Nelson doesn’t say. As for the Old Bailey court records I've searched the online archive and I can only find one potentially relevant entry showing that on 11 January 1869, a Henry Defries, aged 17, was convicted of unlawfully assaulting Sarah Newstead with intent and sentenced to 8 months imprisonment. It's unclear if this is the same Henry Defries born in March 1850 because that man would have been 18 years old as of 11 January 1869.
The only other Henry Defries I find in the Old Bailey record is someone of that name living at 76 Sidney Street, said to be of previous good character, convicted of theft in December 1889 but this one would certainly appear to be a different person. His age in the Central Criminal Court Calendar is stated to be 34 whereas the man Nelson identified would have been 39 if he was born in the first quarter of 1850. He is also stated to have been a clothier whereas the individual Nelson identified was either a warehouseman or a gas fitter, according to Nelson.
What "range of criminal" behaviour am I supposed to be finding in the Old Bailey records?
On 20 September 2014, after Richardnunweek announced his retirement from Casebook on the grounds that "the case has gone nowhere", Nelson told him (bold added):
"Don't do it Richard! It was Henry DeFries."
In a thread about one's favourite wildcard suspect, Nelson posted on 1 May 2015:
"Henry DeFries, gasfitter, who lived on Middlesex Lane. I keep hoping some one will look into this guy."
I suppose someone might have looked into Defries already had Nelson offered up a single reason as to why he would be worth looking into.
On 26th July 2014, in a thread entitled 'Your most likely suspect', Nelson posted:
"Henry DeFries. A Gasfitter. Lived on Middlesex Street. Family history of mental illness."
That's it? A family history of mental illness? That's why he was Jack the Ripper? I wouldn't mind but Nelson hasn't even established, with any evidence at all, that the Defries family did suffer from mental illness, let alone Henry Defies himself.
We move to May 2016 and Nelson isn't giving up, posting in a Casebook thread:
"Henry Defries, gasfitter, 7 Middlesex Street."
With no one stopping him, he kept getting bolder, telling the Casebook members in June 2015 (bold added):
"Except nobody has considered the "real" Ripper, the gas-fitter Henry DeFries who lived on Middlesex Street."
On 2th August 2020, he posted (bold added):
"Neither Lechmere or Bury. It was the gas-fitter Henry DeFries on Middlesex Street."
John Wheat asked what everyone must have been thinking:
"Exactly who is Henry DeFries? /is this some sort of joke?"
To which Nelson responded:
"Sorry, I meant William Bury… ..Or Edward Bury. James Bury? Whatever that guy's name was."
What a strange person. And he wasn't stopping.
On 1th2 November 2020 we got this:
"Henry DeFries, a gas fitter, 7 Middlesex Street...."
But, in May 2021, an element of doubt suddenly crept in to Nelson's posts:
"Well, look at Henry DeFries, the gas-fitter at 7 Middlesex Street. It could have been him, but will we ever really know?"
Will we ever know? Certainly not if Nelson continues to fail to give us one single reason to suspect the man.
Nelson's reign of Defries terror on the Forums seems to have been brought to an end by none other than the board's headmistress Caroline Morris!
Shortly after Nelson had fingered Nelson for the umpteenth time, Morris posted pompously:
"Without the kind of evidence against any individual that would stand a chance of holding up in court, I don't see why it is necessarily any more justified to accuse someone from a) to d), over anyone else whose status would be 'presumed innocent but can't be ruled out'. In fact, there might be even less justification to accuse anyone in the above categories who was considered at the time, but cleared or not pursued."
Oh dear, Nelson had been chastised. His meek response to the chastisement was:
"It sounds like I'm in trouble then. With the big boss."
That was May 2021, and we never heard a single further squeak out of him about Henry Defries after that.
​
LORD ORSAM
March 2026